Certain wireless standards provide for operation in the 2.4 GHz band. Legacy channels for operation in the 2.4 GHz band provide 20 MHz of bandwidth. Newer systems may support an extended bandwidth channel (which may also be referred to as an “extension channel”) to allow greater throughput. The extended bandwidth channel is traditionally two 20 MHz channels to provide 40 MHz of bandwidth. Operating in a 40 MHz channel in 2.4 GHz provides several problems with respect to channel spacing. For example, channel availability may be adversely affected. A single 40 MHz channel may leave space for operation of only one more 20 MHz channel in the band. In some scenarios (e.g., most out-of-the-box system configurations) may not even allow for operation a 20 MHz channel and a 40 MHz channel in the same band.
Besides the problems associated with channel availability, coexistence mechanisms between legacy 802.11b/g on the extension channel and the 40 MHz base station system (BSS) are problematic. There are currently no other frequencies a BSS can move to if it encounters interference. Channel spacing issues, default settings, and protection mechanism are inadequate. The 2.4 GHz spectrum is congested with hundreds of millions of wireless local area networks (WLANs) in addition to countless Bluetooth devices (BLUETOOTH of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group of Bellevue, Wash., standardized in, e.g., IEEE 802.15.1-2005, IEEE 802.15.2-2003, IEEE 802.15.3-2003), cordless phones, baby monitors, microwave ovens, etc., and suffers a general lack of adequate coexistence mechanisms. The result is poor system performance at best, and can frequently result in no system throughput in adjacent systems.
Descriptions of certain details and implementations follow, including a description of the figures, which may depict some or all of the embodiments described below, as well as discussing other potential embodiments or implementations of the inventive concepts presented herein. An overview of embodiments of the invention is provided below, followed by a more detailed description with reference to the drawings.